Couture spoke about his ordeal immediately following his injury, when a deflected puck knocked several teeth from his mouth in Nashville on March 25.

“Right when it happened I went to the Nashville room and their doctors and dentists did a great job trying to basically save my teeth,” he said. “They had to move a lot of them around obviously from the impact of the puck. They were all shifted in my mouth. They did a great job at that time to try and save them.

“I went to Vanderbilt hospital, and they brought a guy in there to put what is called an arch-bar on my teeth to try and save them. …It wasn’t really a surgery, it was just kind of a procedure that they did.”...

“They’re all damaged,” he said. “A lot of these teeth are going to be taken out at some point once the season is over. They’ll have to remove a lot of them from my mouth.”

“It’s basically temporary to have some teeth in my mouth. That’s pretty much it. If they took them all out now then I would be almost toothless.”

Couture’s timeframe to return wasn’t anymore specific than the one offered by DeBoer, as he hasn't skated yet. The good news is he said he hasn’t lost any weight, and he is again able to eat some solid foods, although he has to chew his back teeth only.

“Gonna try to [come back this season]. That’s the goal, is to play hockey,” he said. “We’re taking at this point just today was a good day for me. Did some exercise. Feel good. We’ll go on to tomorrow, and when we get there we’ll see what I can do.”

Thornton, who had an MRI on his knee on Monday, is scheduled to speak with the media on Wednesday. Reached via text message, Thornton simply said: "Hope to be back soon."

more on the Sharks and if you need a refresher on the Couture and Thornton injuries, watch below...

With about seven minutes remaining and the Predators leading by three goals, Jarnkrok received a minor penalty for boarding Haley, which incited a 10-man scrum. Haley sought out Jarnkrok and landed a left-handed jab to his face.

What have you noticed lately from your veteran guys? Scoring is down [two goals in the past three games], but otherwise have you seen a jump in them, something different in the last little while, or are they kind of by the book, day by day, grinding through?

"No, I think there is a definite rise in play and in production and, really, everything. These guys are big-game players. They always have been. Until you go through a season after a Stanley Cup Final loss, knowing what it's like to go that deep and lose, and then compound it with the World Cup, you don't realize the extent of the fatigue, mental and physical. What I've seen here in the last month or two has been all our big guys seeing the finish line and playoffs coming and really raising their level."

Have you see a season like Brent Burns is having before, considering the position he plays and the fact that he leads the League in shots and he's right up there in points too? But on top of that, is he showing any frustration that he hasn't scored a goal in [13 games]?

"He's playing through it. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't frustrated. He expects to score and he wants to score, and there is always frustration when you do that and it's not going in. But I think he's smart enough to recognize he's doing all the same things he was before and it's just not going in. It is exceptional what he's doing when you consider the age of shot-blocking and the attention paid to getting in lanes. For a guy that is shooting a lot of nights from the blue line, not from 10 or 15 feet out, it's an incredible stat [to lead the League in shots on goal]. The other thing you have to realize too is I would say at least half his shots he's shooting for a stick or a tip, he's not even aiming for the net. I think his shot totals could be even higher on net if he wasn't so unselfish.

"I can remember [Alex] Ovechkin coming into Florida when I was coaching there still, my second or third year, and one night he had 11 or 12 shots on net, five or six hits. It was just fantastic stuff, like this guy is better than anybody we've seen this year. It's that type of reaction other coaches have had in their coaches room after we've played them because he's been that dominant.

“We look at it from our point of view. We take a look at every team in the league and there’s teams that are trying to decide if they’re a today team or a tomorrow team. … The cap system, we’re going to need (our prospects).

Having said that, do you explore everything? Yeah, we always have and we always will. But the next month or so will be another opportunity — knock on wood, we get a couple guys back healthy

it would be nice to have all our puzzle pieces together so you get to view your team. I think we have a pretty good read on our group and right now, we like the depth, we like the competition that’s there. It’s a battle just to stay in. I see more competition coming from the Barracuda if you ask (coach) Roy (Sommer).”

SAN JOSE, CA - San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General Manager Doug Wilson announced today that the club has acquired right wings Buddy Robinson and Zack Stortini, and a 2017 seventh-round draft selection from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for forward Tommy Wingels (@tommywingels57).

"Tommy has been a valuable member of our franchise for many years, a phenomenal teammate and a true role model on and off the ice for our organization and the NHL," said Wilson. "As a team evolves and younger players push for roster spots, unfortunately tough decisions have to be made. We wish Tommy and his wife, Molly, nothing but success in the future.

"We also want to welcome Buddy and Zach to our organization. They add size and depth to our reserve list and we look forward to having them in San Jose."

Wingels, 28, recorded 122 points (51 goals, 71 assists) and 197 penalty minutes in 337 career NHL games, all with San Jose. The Evanston, IL, native was originally drafted by San Jose in the sixth round (177th overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Patrick Marleau is the owner of just about every career record for goal scoring in Sharks franchise history. But he’s never had a game like Monday’s against the Colorado Avalanche.

With his team needing a spark, Marleau came through with one of the most memorable games of his 19-year NHL career, scoring four third period goals in the Sharks’ 5-2 win over the Avalanche.

Marleau scored at 2:53, 5:57 and the 10:35 marks of the third period, then finished his electrifying night with a breakaway goal with 3:37 to go as the Sharks picked up their season-high fifth straight win.

“Tonight was a lot of fun,” said Marleau, who is now at 497 goals for his NHL career.